SCENES OF ENCOUNTER IN LAILA LALAMI’S THE MOOR’S ACCOUNT
Loading...
Date
2021-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Laila Lalami has been known for narrating stories of marginalized people and
alienated cultures. In her novel, The Moor’s Account (2014), she protests
Eurocentrism and attempts to restore the cultural heritage of marginalized people. The
present study examines cross-cultural encounters in the novel through Homi Bhabha’s
theories of hybridity, mimicry, ambivalence, and unhomeliness. It investigates the
cultural differences, clashes, and interactions between the colonizer and the colonized,
highlighting the significance of storytelling in the life of the main character Mustafa
and in the life of other characters. Moreover, the study emphasises the importance of
names and naming as identity markers in the colonial and postcolonial world. Thus,
the study is divided into two chapters. The first chapter presents the socio-historical
context and the theoretical framework. The second chapter, on the other hand,
analyses the main character’s identity (de)formation in the light of Bhabha’s theories.
Description
Keywords
Keywords: cultural encounters, postcolonialism, naming, hybridity, mimicry, unhomeliness